Living Mind
by AKDyadyaVasya
Summary: Pandora is a perpetual enigma. Even after the danger of Hyperion passes, new problems arise: vanishing communities, strange animal attacks, and unprecedented bandit assaults among others. Slowly, these problems reveal a terrifying reality which brings only more questions. For one Dahl Special Forces squad caught in the middle of it all, the answers might come too late.
1. Prologue & Deployment

_**Author's note:**_

_**Hey all! I've had this story bumping around in my mind for a while, so figured I might as well start writing. Maybe it'll keep me from dropping off of the proverbial grid as far as writing goes.**_

_**This story is set in the Borderlands universe, of course. I've taken quite a bit of liberties with Dahl's military structure. As we know, they're somewhat based on the U.S. Army, so I kind of ran with that.**_

_**Other bits you might notice are new technologies and vehicles, but all within the realities and rules of the Borderlands universe. So yeah. Read and review, please! :)**_

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**Prologue**

The merchant stretched lazily as he sat on the bench in the tiny town of Desert Spring. He hated the Sand Dunes run. It was incredibly boring. There was nothing to be seen but a flat expanse of desert. There wasn't even any risk in this run anymore. Now that Dahl had re-established its presence on the planet, the few bandit raider gangs that once called the Sand Dunes home had been wiped out. While plenty of other regions of Pandora were still chock full of bandits, every settlement in the Sand Dunes region was now a safe haven with plenty in the way of food, water, ammunition, and other vital supplies.

It wasn't that the trader minded the safety that the Dahl military brought to the region, he just preferred some excitement or wonder on his trips. He had heard that the famous Sir Hammerlock had started up his hunting lodge again, and that trade might resume there. Now going there would be something he'd love to do. He had heard many stories about the creatures that inhabited Aegrus. He would love to see them himself, maybe take them on. He glanced at his three Cara-vans, all parked outside the bar next to the four escort cars. His Cara-van escorts had been outfitted with enough guns to take on almost any bandit attack with plenty of extra money from increasingly successful trades. The merchant had invested in better security, which in turn, brought in more clients. The drivers and guards of his trading caravan were probably in the bar, having a beer, and relaxing. The Sand Dunes trading run was three days, from the town of Oasis to Sanctuary, two of the days being travel through desert.

The merchant yawned. He began to think back to the days before Handsome Jack had woken the Warrior, before the five Vault Hunters had defeated it. There seemed to be quite a lot of famous Vault Hunters now. Though word had spread quickly of the death of Roland, the surviving three Vault Hunters who had discovered the first Vault were alive and well. They had linked up with the five newer Vault Hunters… Eight… Eight famous Vault hunters. As if that wasn't enough of them.

Too many heroes… There were too many heroes on Pandora, the merchant thought. This was no place for a hero anymore, at least on the scale of the Vault Hunters… The massive "evil" had been defeated. Now only bandit gangs remained, though there were plenty of those to go around… The merchant was just considering joining his employees is the pub, when a sound caught his attention. In the distance, he could hear a strange, airy series of sounds. It sounded like wings, but there were never rakk in this area unless a rakk hive was present. Rakk hives were monitored closely, however, and the nearest one was over two hundred kilometers away. So what could it be? The sound grew louder and louder, and the merchant look in the direction it was coming from with an expression of disdain. Perhaps this was a flock of birds… Perhaps Dahl monitoring has missed a Rakk Hive? No, that couldn't be the case. How could someone miss a Rakk Hive, given the size of even the "small" ones?

The merchant looked up into the moonlight sky, when suddenly, hundreds, if not thousands of winged creatures went zooming past it, casting strange shadows onto the ground. The loud sound of the countless pairs of leathery wings was all that the merchant heard as he attempted to focus on the creatures. He simply couldn't make them out. It was far too dark and they flew by too quickly. The merchant cursed to himself. If this was some unseen species of Pandoran flyer, he might have been the first to see them. Those would be some impressive bragging rights. His thought was interrupted as the creatures suddenly turned and flew back towards the city. With the stream of the fliers seemingly endless, they whirled around above the small town, creating what looked like a tornado of living, breathing creatures.

The merchant began to wonder if they were dangerous, but remembered that Desert Spring's overshield kept out any unwanted wildlife. It had lasted for countless years. Though it had been breached by bandits in the past who managed to disable the generator, those instances were rare. The merchant gave a short laugh as he watched on of the creatures dive down towards the town, only to ricochet off of the shield, followed by another. He still couldn't quite make them out. The merchant's attention was turned to several of the citizens of the town and traders making it their lodging for the night as they came out of random buildings and looked up with confusion at the swarm of fliers.

Despite the fact that he couldn't make out details, the merchant managed to estimate the size of the creatures. Most looked to be about 1.5 meters, about the size of a stalker. Here and there, he noticed larger shapes, one that were pushing three meters from front to tail. The tails… Finally, he recognized the quick flicking tails of the creatures. They seemed dangerous. Still, with the shield, there was nothing to worry about. One of the flyers broke off from the tornado of its fellows and shot in a downwards arc, attempting to pierce the bottom of the shield. The merchant was stunned. They were testing the shield for weaknesses. As this thought occurred to him, the creature rebounded off of the shield and tumbled to the ground, giving a shriek of anger. One of the town's citizens shined a flashlight. The beam fell on the creature, and the merchant finally got to see it fully. It was truly fearsome looking. It reminded him of something he had seen on wall records of the Eridians. He had only seen pictures of the records from passing scientists and archeologists, but they sure looked similar to the beast in front of him.

Well, whatever they were, they weren't getting through the shield. The merchant couldn't help but be impressed at their display of intelligence, however. He began to note larger and larger fliers among the mass. He could have sworn he saw one that had to have been 5 meters long. Still, the shield was strong, and would keep them all safe. More and more people were emerging into the streets of the town to look at the creatures. Here and there in the mass of fliers, the merchant began seeing very different colors on them. Similar to skags and bullymongs, it seemed the fliers had elemental varieties amongst them. He spotted several of each major weaponized Pandoran element: fire, slag, corrosive, shock… Shock… He barely had time to register as four of the shock fliers grouped together and plummeted down in the center point of the shield, right where the generator tower point was. He felt his stomach drop away as a massive surge of electricity arced down the shield, which flickered, then disappeared. Immediately, the creatures descended on the town. Their first target was the shield tower. The merchant watched in horror as the large one he had seen smashed into the tower, causing it to wobble. It definitely was about 5 meters, but was even shorter than its companion that also attacked the tower. This one was more than 10 meters in length with a massive wingspan to match. He stared in horror as the tower shook, giving a loud metallic screech. There was an echoing crack, and the tower was ripped out of the ground, one of its legs bending awkwardly as the monsters destroyed the town's primary form of defense.

With the tower down, the creatures concentrated on the townsfolk. A man several meters to the merchant's right got caught between two of the larger fliers. They lifted him into the air, fighting over the kill until he was literally torn in half, blood spraying the ground.

The merchant cursed and drew his assault rifle from its holder on his back. Maybe if he shot his way through the creatures, he could make it to his Cara-van and hide. Even with creatures bigger than his vehicles, the armor of his Cara-van might just hold. These things were big, but there had to be a limit to their strength, like any other animal on Pandora. Before the thought had even left his head, the moon in its entirety was suddenly obscured. Confused, the merchant looked up, and his jaw dropped as he felt the contents of his bowels escaping into his trousers.

.

.

.

**Part 1: Deployment**

The Rocky Heights Space Station never slept.

Of course, this was as indicative of the lack of night on any space station as it was the dearth of a definitive day. Since the lights hardly ever went out and Pandora's sun was a poor indicator of the hour, everyone who worked on this station operated on his or her own clock. It was certainly restless, but never noisy. At any given hour, people were sleeping-and yet the station itself never slept.

Dahl's orbital facility circling the massive planet of Pandora had been largely dormant since the great evacuation seven years ago, but it had since come back to life following the news of the collapse of Hyperion, the major competing corporation. With all its competitors largely gone, the Dahl corporation had little trouble reclaiming all of its lost assets it was forced to abandon, absorbing new ones, and re-establishing an effective monopoly on goods and services on the entire planet. Massive mining operations re-opened almost overnight, and the corporation's market share soared. Now, it was at an all-time high. Things were going very well. Save for several major Hyperion strongholds on the planet, all competing corporations had been wiped off of Pandora.

The only sticking point for Dahl, if there was one at all, had been the semi-autonomous city of Sanctuary. The initial contact had been rough; they had nearly come to blows with the residents, many of whom were former Crimson Lance, the infamous military arm of the now bankrupt Atlas corporation. Eventually, after tense negotiations and grudging compromise, it was agreed that Sanctuary would retain its sovereignty, but Dahl would have some influence there and treat the place like one would a foreign nation. Previous tensions between Dahl personnel and former Crimson Lance personnel were brought down to a simmer after that. After the last round of disciplinary hearings, they had all but evaporated. The common ground, it seemed, had been the shared hatred for Hyperion and its C.E.O. Handsome Jack on both sides.

Unfortunately for the Dahl Special Forces, security meant complacency and complacency meant idling. Though the highly secretive Dahl First Recon had been deployed almost immediately upon word of Hyperion's demise and strange things being picked up on Dahl's scanners and cameras, other elements had been left on the space station-"dregs", as the brass liked to call them. They had fulfilled their purpose for now, and were now simply left at the bottom of the proverbial teacup until they were needed again. Everyone knew that the brass had designs on the now-abandoned Hyperion space station, but until the plans were finalized most of them would be stuck in space until further notice.

In short, the buzz on Dahl's executive board had left the higher-ups extremely excited, but departments of its military branch were left sorely lacking in action. For no squad was this truer than for Ranger element Romeo 3, a highly successful reconnaissance, infiltration, and deep deployment section who had participated in the early theater of Pandora's reclamation but now sat idly in orbit. The success on Pandora and on previous planets that had gained them so many accolades felt, to some of them, a curse. They never left anymore-they were "too valuable to be expended lightly," according to the official report.

_How fucking kind of them_, thought Corporal Jacob Greenberg, scowling at the Hyperion Space station winking uselessly in the distance. He was not as bitter as he was bored. At the moment, he was slouched in a chair with his legs dangling over the arm rest. He stared at his fuzzy reflection in the glass, running a hand through short, unkempt, black hair. His green eyes were half-closed, more from boredom than exhaustion. He was twirling a coin between the fingers of his right hand, an old habit from his youth that he'd never quite been able to shake. Jacob yawned, wishing absently that something would happen.

He didn't notice the shadow looming behind him until it reached out with one hand and lightly pushed his face into the window in front of him. He grunted indignantly, twisted around, and met the sparkling, mischievous eyes of Specialist Katylin Zhang.

"Found you," she said brightly. "What's up?"

"Bored, that's what," he grumbled. Katylin yawned and nodded in agreement.

"Ditto," she said, and sat down on the floor next to him.

"Why can't you sit in a chair like a normal person?" Jacob wanted to know. "For all the years I've known you, you've never _not_ sat down on the floor unless it was _absolutely necessary._"

"I feel in sync with nature here," she said dryly.

"Kat, you're on a fucking space station."

"_You're_ clearly not in sync with Nature."

Katylin and Jacob went way back. They'd first met years ago during Ranger training. In different ways, they'd helped each other survive the rigorous ordeal. Katylin however, was still rather cold towards everyone around her, Jacob especially. While Katylin had come from a rough background, Jacob had been raised in a loving, supportive family. She automatically viewed him as "stuck up" because of this. Though all Rangers who made it through Ranger training had a respect for each other, Katylin's view of Jacob didn't go much further than that. In fact, she was outwardly hostile to him, and it didn't take long for Jacob to lose patience and return the feelings. This continued until their squad's first mission. Well before they had joined Romeo 3, they were part of a Ranger squad sent to a remote, snowy planet called Yular. Their squad, composed of Rangers fresh out of training, landed with a mission. The squad leader however, a rookie, botched the mission and caused the deaths of the entire squad save for Katylin and Jacob while on deep deployment. Jacob and Katylin managed to complete their objectives, however, and survive two days in sub-zero temperatures, getting back to the main Dahl base mere minutes before the last of the company's shuttles left for good. After that, they had become extremely close.

It was an unlikely pair, the sniper and the medic. The others had always joked about how "opposites attract": his role was up close and personal while hers was distant and often lonely. But what they shared in common was their sharp, sometimes off-color humor, which had earned their entire squad the nickname "Smartass 3".

Jacob scowled at Hyperion's space station again.

"Can't we just ram it?" he groaned. "It would be so easy to just plow it over."

"That's what she said," Katylin teased in a singsong voice. He snorted.

"But seriously…" Jacob muttered. "I wish we'd just get deployed already. This is painful."

"Yeah, I'm kind of bored already too." Katylin agreed. "I think I've already messed with every Ranger chalk still here. Still, we'll be shipped out soon."

"Zulu headed out last night, I hear." Jacob said. "Are we gonna get a mission, or what?"

"Give it time, Jake." Katylin glanced at him. "We'll be deployed soon."

"Haven't we given it enough time, though?" Jacob asked. "Why are they keeping us here?"

"Maybe they don't want to risk us on pointless missions." Katylin shrugged. "You know command has a boner for the Rangers… Especially for us. They probably still remember the Targus tie-and-fly we pulled before. Don't want to waste our skills."

"I guess." Jacob said, memories of that mission briefly coming back to him. "Still no comfort to us, you know?"

"Nah, I gotcha. I'm just saying, don't let it bug you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He nodded. "When's our on call shift end? I want a beer."

He barely had time to finish that sentence when the door opened. "No beers tonight, kids. We're being deployed."

"Holy shit!" Jacob scrambled to his feet. If there was any lethargy in his posture before, it evaporated now.

He stared in disbelief at Captain Nathan Jones, Romeo 3's squad leader. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Contact has been lost with an outpost along coast of the Highlands." Jones nodded. He was a big man in his late thirties. His hair was curly and dark and a thick black beard sat on his chin, making him look like someone out of Greek legend.

"So we have to re-establish contact?" Jacob asked.

"Yes. I'd like to say it's only a problem with the transmitter, but my gut tells me something else."

Katylin smacked Jacob, stopping him from turning the Captain's last statement into a joke.

"When are we heading out?" Katylin asked.

"One hour. Grab your gear, suit up, and meet in airlock seven. Wait in the barracks until I call you. It'll be dark, so bring NOD." Captain Jones smiled. "The rest of the squad has been informed."

He left. Jacob punched the air victoriously. Finally, a mission! It felt like the last time he'd seen real action was high school. He looked at Katylin excitedly. She was not so ecstatic-she looked worried, actually, and was staring at the door.

"Kat?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"That's not sketchy at all," she murmured, frowning.

"What?" He deflated abruptly.

"Why are we being sent to some base in the middle of nowhere just to 're-establish contact'?" she asked. "Shit ain't right."

"Come on, man, it's just simple recon," he pointed out. "At least we're actually going out."

"We don't get sent out on 'simple recon'. And if we are...fucking waste of my talents."

Ignoring her last jibe, Jacob considered what she was saying. She was right, of course. Romeo 3 was too skilled and too experienced to be doing simple check-up on a silent outpost. Something else was in play, and it filled him with nervous excitement.

"I see what you're saying," he said at last. "Okay. Keep your eyes open."

"My thoughts exactly," she said dryly. She brushed past him and was gone, leaving a faint aroma of smuggled shampoo and perfume behind.

He scowled at the door. Katylin was a sweet girl; she was a good friend, a reliable squadmate, and she remembered people's birthdays. But she had her host of problems and insecurities and sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder if she thought she was above it all. Her role as the squad's sniper suited her. She meant well, but she was sometimes hard to deal with-one moment she might be bubbly and pleasant, and another she might be closed off and hostile. Maybe today was one of her off days, but maybe the boredom had made her as antsy as any of the others, he reasoned. With a sigh, he pushed his thoughts aside and followed her to the airlock.


	2. Preparation

**Part 2 - Preparation**

When he saw her in the hall, Katylin was back to her normal self. Sergeant Alexander Dominic, Romeo 3's giant of a heavy weapons expert, had slung her over his shoulder and was carrying her around like a potato sack while she shrieked and laughed at him to put her down, _now_. Somewhere during the ordeal her ponytail had come undone and her long, dark hair fell around her face.

"Dom, I will _cut you_ if you don't-"

"Kat, talking to me in ghetto is not going to help anything."

"But Aaaaleex..." she whined as best as she could between fits of uncontrollable laughter. "What if I bought you an _entire bucket_ of fried chicken?"

"Really?!" Alex almost shouted, sounding excited. "Just kidding. I think I will just haul your little Chinese ass to the airlock and toss you out."

"But _Aleex!_"

Jacob watched in amusement as the dysfunctional duo rounded the corner and left his sight. Despite his impressive size, Dominic was a bookish, soft-spoken, gentle giant with a penchant for making philosophical quotes. Katylin brought out the more rambunctious side of him-she was like a little sister to him. When they'd first met, he'd been nothing short of closed off. Eventually, she'd gotten him to open up to the rest of the squad. That was ages ago.

When he followed them around the corner, he was pleasantly surprised to find them holding the elevator for them. Nodding his thanks, he stepped on. The doors slid shut just as someone thrust her hand between them, giving them all a shock. The elevator stuttered open again and a slim, dark-skinned girl hurried to join them.

"Brittany!" he almost shouted. "Jesus, you scared the shit out of me."

"Hey to you too, Jacob," she shot back, barely withholding a smile. Katylin high-fived her behind his back. He rolled his eyes.

Brittany was Specialist Brittany Deane, a skilled soldier and a savant with all things mechanical. She was a tidy, analytical girl with dreadlocks and a sense of humor to match. Level-headed in every sense of the word, she functioned in part as the team's reality check. Though she almost never cracked jokes during missions, she could go barb for barb with the best of them on breaks. Now, she exhaled sharply and cast Jacob a sideways glance.

"Yo Jacob, Jews good at countin', right?" she joked. "You remember how long we been up here?"

He shrugged. "Four weeks, maybe. Might as well have been four months as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad we're finally going out."

"I forgot what fresh air smells like," Alex agreed.

Katylin snorted. "We'll be getting some of that soon, provided 'fresh air' smells like hemorrhoids and bacon."

"How you know what that smell like?" Brittany giggled.

"What, hemorrhoids?" Katylin asked.

"No, bacon." Brittany retorted sarcastically.

"Hemorrhoids have a smell?" Jacob wondered aloud.

"Oh, come on-it's not that bad," Alex protested. "You get used to it after a while!"

"You get used to prison rape after a while, too." Katylin muttered.

Jacob laughed. "Did you just compare Pandora air to prison rape?"

"Anything can be compared to prison rape. Dom would know."

The elevator erupted with laughter. "You're a bitch," Jacob gasped, wiping away tears of mirth.

In time (perhaps more than he initially perceived) the doors opened again and they all spilled out into the locker room. Specialist Adrian Ruiz, a tall, slightly thick Hispanic man, was already there, geared up and chatting with his mother back home via video com. He chuckled at something she was telling him and looked up as they came near.

"Do sharks swim in packs now?" he joked lamely.

"Sup, Aids." Katylin sailed past and pulled her locker open with dramatic flair and a toss of her head.

"How's it hanging?"

"Just talking with family." He motioned to his computer.

"You're on that thing every day," Jacob remarked.

"At least he has good relations with his parents," Katylin quipped.

"At least I _have _parents."

He ducked as a balled-up sock sailed past his head. "You know, my relationship with my parents is perfectly normal," Jacob added. "They just cut my umbilical cord is all."

"You keep some of that cord to make your dick look bigger?" she tossed back at him as she turned her back and stripped off her shirt.

He laughed. "Well aren't we on a roll, today?"

"Are you sure you two aren't fucking?" Adrian chipped in, raising an eyebrow. Katylin giggled and threw her shirt at him. It landed on his monitor and he flicked it away.

"Jealous, Aids?"

He craned his neck and sized Jacob up. "Maybe."

Brittany cleared her throat. "Stop fucking around, guys. We still have to wire up."

Katylin snuck a glance at Jacob and flashed him a smile before disappearing into her locker again. Jacob smiled back and changed into his battle dress. Even though it had been upwards of a month since he'd done so, the routine was still familiar to his fingers. After hooking his night vision goggles up, he straightened up and examined himself in the mirror. His standard, Ranger desert camouflage was clean and tidy, having been hanging in the locker unused for so long. As with all Rangers, patches were sewn neatly into the fabric. Over the heart was a black bar with the tan words DAHL in the well-known stenciled format. The left shoulder bore the Dahl Special Operations insignia, a pair of crossed swords over a skull set in a golden wreath. Just below that was another patch bearing a falcon in flight, its talons gripping a strip of parchment upon which the word "Rangers" was written. The only part of his uniform that different from those of his squadmates was the red cross patch over the right bicep, indicating his status as a medic.

"Hold up," Jacob paused. "Are we just coming back to the station after this?"

"Nah," Brittany commented, her upper body out of sight behind the locker door. "Fort Aries. We're on the ground."

"Yeah, put all the gear we're not using on this op in that crate. They'll drop it down to the fort." Adrian pointed.

"Nice." Jacob smiled, turning back to his locker. He carefully folded his jungle and winter uniforms. Along with the rest of his currently unneeded belongings, he then stowed them carefully in the crate that Adrian had indicated.

"'Bout time." Katylin muttered, walking up next to him and tossing her clothes haphazardly into the crate on top of Jacob's.

"I thought Asians were experts in folding laundry." He grinned.

Katylin lightly slapped him on the cheek before returning to her locker wordlessly. Jacob did the same, checking his combat backpack. All of his medical tools and accessories were there: bandages, disinfectant, pain killers, a sealed box containing blood packs, surgery kit, and more. He returned to his locker. Reaching inside, he drew a sleek, black, Dahl M4 semi-automatic shotgun. A deep, fluorescent green line ran along the barrel, indicating its corrosive specialization. He slid it into the holster on his back and ensured that it wouldn't get in the way of his pack. He returned to his locker, drawing a dark grey .45 pistol, and stowing it on his hip. Finally, he grabbed his third and final weapon, an SMG, which he hung around his neck by its strap. After patting his combat vest down and ensuring he had ammunition, he kicked his locker door shut.

Jacob grabbed his medical pack and dragged it over to his bunk before sitting down.

"Now we wait for Jones, right?" Jacob asked, looking around at his squadmates.

"Yup." Adrian acknowledged, closing the top of the laptop and swirling his chair around.

Jacob nodded and, almost mechanically, removed the coin he had been spinning earlier from his pocket. Though he had done this since his youth, he found that it helped him significantly as a medic, the habit increasing the dexterity in his fingers.

Adrian looked over at Alex, who was quietly absorbed in a book titled 'The Prince'. "That any good, Alex?"

"Fascinating." Alex answered. "Quite different than the other writings of Machiavelli."

"Right." Adrian nodded awkwardly, not having the faintest idea what Alex was saying. Brittany had carefully connected her collapsed turret onto her pack, and was now lovingly making sure it was strapped in.

Katylin strolled over and sat down cross-legged on the floor near Jacob, her sniper rifle across her lap. She watched Jacob flip the coin for several seconds before a smirk appeared on her face. She opened her mouth, but hadn't gotten a sound out before Jacob spoke up.

"Save the jacking off joke." Jacob glanced at her. "Adrian got there before you."

Katylin closed her mouth and shot Adrian an annoyed look. Adrian gave her "jazz hands" in response.

It seemed they had all barely gotten ready before Captain Jones' voice came over their ECHOs. "Alright, we're set. Get your asses down here."

"Wooh!" Jacob jumped up from the bed and put his pack around his shoulders.  
Airlock seven, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. We all good?" Katylin asked. The squad all stood up, glancing at each other.

"Okay. Let's go!" Adrian said brightly. With that, the soldiers all filed out of their quarters and headed for the elevator, making small talk along the way. As they entered the elevator and it took them to the bottom of the space station, the subjects ranged from what the problems on the outpost could be to the curiosity about the floating city of Sanctuary. The elevator doors opened, and the squad quickly jumped on one of the massive space station's trams, shouldering their way through other bustling Dahl employees.

It quickly took them to airlock seven, where a Bluebird shuttle was in the final stages of being fueled.

A Bluebird shuttle was a small, quick, dark grey transport used for quick deployments and extractions. It had a sleek body, slightly bulky in the center where it carried its soldiers. It's tail ended in three, flat fins. At the other end was a rounded, blunt nose. The wings held two powerful engines that had a vertical motion range of 180 degrees, useful for quick, hovering deployments in active battlefields.

Bluebirds were the choice shuttle for most Ranger companies, specifically Romeo 3. This was due to the fact that they were some of the only shuttles that could handle rapid drops. The burning effect of entering the atmosphere at the speeds needed for a rapid drop would destroy a larger shuttle like a Chukar, which traded speed for an increased load of soldiers on board. Bluebirds, however, were built specifically for those atmospheric conditions. In addition to this, their versatility at making landings almost anywhere if truly needed made them an idea vehicle to work in tandem with the Rangers of Romeo company.

The drop itself was a quick maneuver, yet one that took a skilled pilot. At certain points during the drop, communication would temporarily drop out due to the speed and high temperatures. It was a tough ride, but one several chalks of November and all of Romeo were required to deal with.

The squad all paused on the catwalk that overlooked the hanger to admire the shuttle before making their way down the metal stairs.

"Right on time, ladies and gentlemen." Captain Jones stated. He was standing next to the shuttle, speaking with the pilot. The squad knew him well.

"Yo, DiTomasso!" Brittany smiled.

"Hey there." Vincent DiTomasso waved. He was barely approaching thirty, but was already one of the most experienced pilots Dahl had in its employ. Though he was slightly shorter than Jacob, he was much more stocky, with thick muscles cording his arms and wide shoulders. His brown hair was in a buzz cut, a sharp goatee was on his chin, and a large scar ran down the right side of his face. With his cut, attractive looks, and maverick demeanor, he was well liked by most of the women and some of the men on the space station. Romeo 3 had worked with him before on several fast deployment missions, and he was always there for deployment and extraction on time. His dark green helmet hung by his side, and his signature aviator sunglasses were folded in the front pocket of his flight suit.

"What's with the night drop, guys? Wanna clue me in?"

"We don't know all that much ourselves, to be honest." Alexander said.

"We're the ones going into that outpost. You're just dropping us off." Adrian grinned, blushing slightly. He had always had a rather large crush on DiTomasso.

"That's kind of what you guys said when we dropped off on Titan Blue… Right before my wing was almost torn off." DiTomasso laughed.

"Boo hoo," Jacob laughed, shaking hands with the pilot, "We had it worse. We jumped into gunfire… literally. I had to start working right away."

"Sorry to make you do your job." DiTomasso snickered, smacking Jacob's helmet.

"Romeo 3, this is Den Mother." The soft, calming voice of Lieutenant Raygan Hayes came over the squad ECHO. Jacob grinned stupidly at hearing the Lieutenant's voice. Katylin smacked him in the stomach. "Tell Greenberg to wipe that stupid grin off his face." Lieutenant Hayes added.

"Already taken care of, Den Mother." Katylin laughed. Lieutenant Raygan Hayes was the communication officer that was always assigned to Romeo 3. She was a very good looking woman in her mid thirties and had an attitude to boot. Jacob had become slightly infatuated with her rather quickly, a topic which was the subject of a lot of teasing from his squad and Lieutenant Hayes herself.

"How'd you know I had a stupid grin, ma'am?" Jacob asked with a laugh.

"Because it's you… you always have a stupid expression on your face, Corporal." Lieutenant Hayes transmitted.

"Ouch." Jacob put his hand to his heart and pretended to stumble. Katylin hit him again.

"What's the word, Den Mother?" Captain Jones asked, attempting to keep an amused smile from forming on his lips but failing.

"Mission is confirmed. Good luck." Lieutenant Hayes said.

"Roger that, Den Mother." Captain Jones responded.

"Bluebird 1-7, drop is a go. Put 'em in." Lieutenant Hayes commanded.

"Yes ma'am." DiTomasso donned his flight helmet and grinned. "Let's rock and roll, Smartass 3."

"Rangers!" Captain Jones yelled. "Load up!"

"HOOAH!" The squad yelled. With the sound of their boots hitting the metal floor, they all quickly entered the shuttle and took their various seats.

"Are we the only Rangers going in?" Adrian asked Captain Jones as the soldiers of Romeo 3 pulled their launch harnesses shut. DiTomasso took his place at the flight console.

"To that specific outpost, yes." Captain Jones nodded. He walked between each squad member, making sure they were strapped in. "Commodore Taylor was busy, so I got the sit-rep from Commander Chase."

"Pft." Jacob snorted derisively, then changed his voice into that of an old Earth Brooklyn accent. "We don't need ayia suhpoht in the Themis cyapital! Yoo'll be alraight! The tangohs are dumb as dohgs!"

Several of the others on the shuttle snickered.

Jones shot Jacob an annoyed look before continuing. "He said that several other Ranger companies have been deployed. November 2 was sent to a tiny town called Desert Spring, and all of Zulu is headed towards the Dust."

Jacob glanced at Katylin, raising his eyebrow. She answered with a shrug. Jacob's thoughts were interrupted however, as the shuttle doors sealed and the hanger opened into space. Pandora looked beautiful from up here, its atmosphere giving the planet the appearance of being wrapped in a soft blue light. The sun peeked out from the other side of the planet. DiTomasso squinted briefly before putting his sunglasses over his face.

"Engines warm." He went over the checklist as Captain Jones finished prepping his squad and strapped himself into his seat. "Fuel supply full. Carbon filters at full power. Air pressure is normal. Den Mother, Bluebird 1-7 is prepped and ready."

"Bluebird 1-7, launch orders confirmed." Lieutenant Hayes transmitted. "Launch orders confirmed. See you on the other side."

"Let's rooooock!" DiTomasso yelled as he hit the thrusters, and the shuttle rocketed out of the bay.

Jacob felt the unpleasant sensation of G-forces pushing against every inch of his body. It didn't affect him much, but no matter how many drops he had done, he still disliked the feeling. He gritted his teeth and glanced through the window behind him, watching as the Rocky Heights Space Station became smaller and smaller. DiTomasso was focused as the shuttle neared Pandora's atmosphere, the planet growing larger and larger until it took up the entire windscreen and nothing else could be seen. "Hang on, we're in for some chop."

His warning came mere seconds before the shuttle began shaking as it made its way through Pandora's upper atmosphere. The vibrations seemed to rattle Jacob right down to the bone and he could have sworn he felt his brain shaking. It was rough, but nothing Romeo 3, or any other Ranger chalk hadn't experienced before. Romeo 3 sat quietly and patiently, waiting for a chance to be on real earth. Though Jacob was concerned about what they'd find in the outpost, he had to admit that Alexander was right: the feeling of his boots hitting dirt again would be incredible. Romeo 3 had been on the space station far too long. Jacob began to feel a pull on his body as gravity began to affect the shuttle. DiTomasso leveled the shuttle out and began to slowly descend through the clouds.

"Communication re-established, Bluebird 1-7." Hayes voice came through their radio again. "Status?"

"We're in the pipe," DiTomasso answered. "Five by five."

The transport broke through the lower cloud layer to reveal a vast expanse of ocean. The surface twinkled in the moonlight. A peninsula of land jutted out in the distance, at the edge of which sat a four-walled outpost. Two towers reached into the sky. The outpost became larger and larger as the shuttle headed towards it. It was serene and almost beautiful.

"There it is." Captain Jones said, indicating the outpost. He unhooked himself and moved to stand behind DiTomasso's seat, his hand gripping a handle on roof of the shuttle.

"How's the water?" Adrian called to the front.

"Yeah, it's nice and warm." DiTomasso scoffed, glancing down through the cockpit. "And loaded with sharptails…" His attention returned to the outpost. "Wait… Wait, wait, wait… What the hell…? Where's the damn beacon?"

"Uh… There." Captain Jones peered through the pointed. "Next to the shield tower."

"It's off… Why is it off?" DiTomasso frowned.

It was Katylin this time who glanced at Jacob first. Jacob simply threw his left hand up in a "who knows?" expression.

"Power outage?" Alexander suggested.

"Nah." Brittany spoke up. "All Dahl outposts got solar panels… Beacons only s'posed to be off during electrical storms."

"Something's really wrong here." Katylin spoke up.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough." DiTomasso grimaced. "Let me make a flyover fir-"

He was interrupted as a small yellow indicator on his control panel blinked rapidly.

Before anyone could ask, Hayes voice came over their ECHOs.

"Romeo 3, advance scans show seven scavengers in the outpost. Clear out all tangos before proceeding with original mission."

"Roger that." Captain Jones responded.

"Bluebird 1-7," Hayes continued. "Silent drop on the rocks one hundred meters out."

"Acknowledged." DiTomasso responded. He turned the shuttle left and began to cut its speed.

"Alright, get in position, now!" Captain Jones stated. "Go, go, go!"

There was a rush of movement as the squad unlatched themselves and gathered near the deployment door.

"Good to go!" Captain Jones gave DiTomasso a thumbs up and the shuttle slowed even more.

"Dropping down. You'll have a one meter jump." DiTomasso transmitted as he slowly lowered the shuttle closer to the ground. Jacob felt the shuttle lower. DiTomasso's voice came over the comm again. "Opening deployment door in five. Four. Three. Two…"

The door opened and dust flew in all directions out from the shuttle due to the burn of the engines.

"Let's go, Rangers!" Captain Jones commanded.

**Author's note:** **This chapter was originally twice as long, but I decided to split it up into two separate chapters. This one is going up tonight (it's 8 p.m. in Japan right now, where I live) the other one will follow about 12 hours from now after I get some sleep and do one more quick run through of Chapter 3.**


	3. Contact

**Part 3 - Contact**

Alexander jumped first, followed by Brittany, then Katylin, Jacob, Adrian, and finally Captain Jones himself.

"Den Mother, this is Bluebird 1-7. Romeo 3 is on the ground. " DiTomasso's voice came over the shared ECHO frequency.

"Roger that, Bluebird 1-7. Come over and assume a holding pattern." Lieutenant Hayes broadcast.

"Roger that. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen." DiTomasso transmitted. The shuttle turned and flew back into the sky, where somewhere far out of sight it began a circular flying pattern over the outpost.

Romeo 3 all surrounded Captain Jones, several of the soldiers kneeling. Along with everyone else, Jacob quickly attached his night vision goggles and switched them on. Everything around him lit up. The ground around him was rocky and dry. Seeing it through the digital green of their night vision goggles gave it an eerie look. Jacob could hear the waves crashing against the rocks of the nearby coast somewhere off to his right.

"Zhang, get set up. Don't fire unless commanded or you absolutely have to."

"Copy," Katylin grunted, already in the process of clamoring up onto a rock. As she set the bipod of her rifle down and prepared, Jones turned to the rest.

"No voices." Jones said. "Hand signals as long as we can. Let's MOVE."

With that, the rest of Romeo 3 made their way down the embankment towards the darkened outpost. Here and there, the brief glow of a flashlight could be seen moving sporadically in an arc as the scavenger controlling it looked for loot.

Captain Jones motioned toward the outpost and the squad moved forward. This close, the outpost looked downright depressing, especially through the green tint of night vision.

Captain Jones indicated Adrian and signaled "take point" with his hand.

Adrian nodded, signaling "side entrance". The squad quietly followed their technician along the cement walls of the outpost until they reached a reinforced metal door. A small computer panel was set in the wall. It displayed a green screen with a single flashing box for text input. It was on emergency power.

Adrian swiped his finger across the screen. A touch-input keyboard interface came up, and he went to work. His fingers worked furiously on the screen. Fifteen seconds in, he paused, glancing at the door. He then turned to Captain Jones and pointed at the computer. He made a tapping motion with his hand, then pointed at the door. His hand went to his ear and his fingers expanded out. The squad got the message: the opening of the door would be too loud.

Captain Jones nodded, turning to Jacob and Brittany. He pointed up at the walls, and curved his three middle fingers downward, signaling a hook. Jacob and Brittany nodded at each other. They removed their climbing wires from their belts and moved right up to the wall. A timed throw from both of them and a two soft _clicks_ later, the hooks had found their marks, digging into the cement. The two Rangers allowed their wires to raise them to the top of the walls of the outpost.

Jacob's vision cleared the wall, and he and Brittany kept low along the wall's battlements. Crouching, they peered over into the courtyard. Metal Dahl crates were everywhere, as were ruined bits of metal and shards of glass. Both the shield generator tower and the beacon were severely damaged, the shield tower disturbingly so. The base had been ripped out completely, and it only stayed upright by leaning against the much stronger beacon. There was also a strangely shaped body lying in the dirt. For now however, the concern was the half dozen or so bandits picking through the outpost.

Jacob turned and crept along the walls, Brittany right behind him, until he made it to the landing of the stairs that led down to the ground. Just as he was about to signal Captain Jones, footsteps sounded on the slatted metal stairs.

"Y'all looked up here?" The bandit yelled over to his buddies. "I'm goin' up here."

"Hey! Hey, you mudderfukker! I claimed dat side of da wall!" Came a reply from the courtyard.

"You ain't here now, is ya?" The bandit laughed as he continued up the stairs, his footsteps growing louder.

Brittany nodded to Jacob, who drew his knife into an icepick grip. The bandit finally came into view. He was dressed in dirty khaki work pants and a tight leather coat. His face was dirty and scruffy, and he seemed to ooze oxygen in and out rather than breathe.

The man's grin immediately disappeared as his eyes fell upon the two Rangers. He opened his mouth, but it was too late. Jacob was already moving. His left hand went up and closed around the man's throat, turning what would've been a scream into a wheeze. Meanwhile, Jacob right arm flew forward into the man's stomach.

The blade slid smoothly through the leather and into the man's belly, sending a stream of blood down his coat and pants. The bandit's eyes bulged as the blade cut into him. Wasting no time, Jacob yanked the man over his shoulders and out of sight of the courtyard. His left hand still gripping the man's throat, Jacob looked the bandit in the eyes as he drew his blade out. His victim's eyes were massive and panicking, but Jacob's grip kept him from making any noise besides painful and desperate sputtering. Jacob quietly put the blade against the man's ribs and pushed. The blade parted the bandit's flesh like butter, the point finding the his heart. The choking and struggling ceased immediately as the man's body went slack and his eyes unfocused.

"Goodbye." Jacob quietly radioed into the ECHO.

"Shit!" Brittany exclaimed. Jacob followed her gaze. One of the bandits was heading to the opposite staircase. He would no doubt see them once he made it up.

"Arright, Jeb, you asshole, I'm takin' yer side then!" The bandit yelled to his dead friend.

"Kat, we got a problem." Brittany hissed into her ECHO. "Tango coming up the opposite staircase. You got a silencer on that rifle?"

"Bitch, please." Kat answered back. There were several tense moments of silence as the bandit made his way onto the walls. He glanced at the darkness beyond the wall before turning around. He paused, his head leaning forward as he squinted at the shapes across from him. His brain would never get the chance to process what he'd seen as a chunk of hot lead tore into his frontal lobe through his left eye socket. The force of the .308 round sent him whirling around as blood sprayed from the gaping cavity that once was his eyeball. The force of the spin sent his lifeless body over the battlement and out of sight.

"Goodbye." Katylin radioed.

"Nice shot." Jacob transmitted.

"I know," Katylin gloated.

With the possible threat removed, Jacob and Brittany slowly moved down the staircase unnoticed. They made their way forward and set up behind one of the larger Dahl crates.

"Captain," Brittany radioed. "The tangos are all over. We can't take the outpost silently."

"Roger that, Deane." Captain Jones responded. "We're opening the maintenance door."

Jacob and Brittany held their breath as a rather loud clicking sound echoed through the outpost. The maintenance door had been opened. Jacob and Brittany peered around the corner of the crate to find three more shabbily dressed bandits.

"What da fuck was dat?" One of them asked, looking around.

"Don' worry Johnny, Lars prob'ly farted uhgain." Another guffawed.

"Ah, fuck yew." Lars cursed.

"No, really fellas," the bandit named Johnny looked in the direction of the maintenance door. "I heard somethin'." He slowly made his way forward. The second bandit shook his head and followed while Lars stayed behind.

"I didn't hear nuthin'," Lars called to them. "Y'all sure you ain't hearin' things?"

The answer came as Johnny put his hand on the maintenance door handle. Before he could do anything else, the metal door flew open. The force of the metal compacted his fingers onto each other, causing the bones in them to crack and shatter as the edge of the door connected with his head. It sent Johnny staggering backwards into his companion. Neither would get a chance to react as Captain Jones' assault rifle fired off a three round burst into the head of the second bandit, sending him to the ground. Alex was right behind Jones, his minigun across his back and his pistol out. Three shots in the standard "two in the chest, one in the head" pattern at Johnny was enough to finish him off.

"Goodybe." Captain Jones said.

"Goodbye," Alex echoed.

Lars, seeing his friends fall, drew his own weapon but Brittany had already sighted in on him. She pulled the trigger on her SMG and her gun flashed. Small geysers of crimson blood erupted from Lars' stomach and climbed their way up his body. The bandit dropped to the ground unmoving, blood staining the dirt around him.

"Goodbye, asshole." Brittany said.

Shouts rose up from inside the outpost as the remaining two bandits came sprinting out of the center building of the outpost to check on the noise.

Alex quickly sighted in and fired off the remainder of his seven round clip, three of his four rounds finding their mark in the first bandit to emerge. The second barely had time to register that his friend had fallen before a blast from Jacob's shotgun tore into his midsection. Gravity took over as his legs were sent flying forward due to the force of his sprint, his body spinning from the corrosive blast of shot. The bandit hit the dirt and took one last wheezing breath before his life left him, leaving only the sizzling sound of the acid dissolving his leather jacket.

"Say goodbye." Jacob grunted.

"Clear." Jones transmitted, glancing at the second bandit that Alex had shot, who was moaning in pain on the ground. "Zhang, get your ass over here."

"Roger that." Katylin nodded.

Romeo 3 gathered near the center building, all looking around and waiting. Jacob and Alex, in the meantime, walked up to the injured bandit. It was a familiar act.

"Whatchu think, Alex?" Jacob asked. "Try your luck?"

"Of course," Alex nodded. "Very poor shot placement on my part." He added with a frown, his slightly annoyed tone giving the impression of someone who had simply missed a question on a test.

"One round went wide too, didn't it?" Jacob asked nonchalantly, taking a second to spit into the dirt.

"Indeed it did... But let's see where the ones that were on target hit."

"Take your time, we gotta wait for Kat before doing anything else anyway."

"Well... I know I hit his left pectoral... I can see the wound on his midsection, too..."

"Last one?"

Alex paused, thinking. "Hm... His kidney I believe?"

"I think you're right." Jacob bent down with his knife and tore open the lower left part of the man's jacket. Sure enough, the entry wound dug directly into the man's kidney.

"The bet is for twenty, yes?" Alex asked.

"Damn, dude." Jacob cursed in a friendly manner. "That's right on. You're getting good at this." He dug into the front pocket of his uniform top and removed a twenty dollar note of Pandoran currency, holding it up past his right ear without looking back.

Alex accepted the bill. "Thank you."

"Wait, you a doctor?" The bandit grunted painfully, glancing at Jacob's red cross patch. "Thank fuck."

Jacob snorted before putting the tip of his knife blade under the bandit's jaw. He drove the knife in, up to the hilt. The bandit coughed in surprise. His face froze in a permanent look of surprise as his life was extinguished and a trickle of blood ran down the side of his mouth.

"Is that your kill or mine?" Alex asked as Jacob cleaned his knife off on the bandit's trousers.

"That's yours." Jacob straightened up. "That round you sent into his chest obliterated his lung, then you had that round in the kidney . He would've died mid-operation... If I gave enough of a shit about him to operate, that is."

Alex looked puzzled. "Hm..."

"What? I'm not some grunt medic. Ranger medics get a hell of a lot of freedom as far as that goes."

"Still is surprising that you can chose who to save or not."

"Oh come on, don't get all existential on me now. Save that for after the mission."

"You don't think it's a strange frame of mind that you have?"

"Two tears in a bucket," Jacob shrugged. "Motherfuck it."

"Sup?" Katylin had reappeared behind them, slightly out of breath.

"Dominic, Greenberg, get over here." Captian Jones said.

Romeo 3 gathered once more. Jacob's attention turned to the body he had seen before knifing the first bandit.

"That was fun." Katylin said brightly.

"Speak for yourself," Adrian grunted, annoyed. "No kills for me."

"Focus..." Captian Jones said sharply. "Okay, bandits are cleared. I want two teams, but I want everyone to be in sight of at least one other person. Deane, get to those towers and the generators, I wanna know what happened. Ruiz you're with me. We're on guard. Greenberg, check for bodies, and hopefully survivors. Zhang, Dominic, you're with him. We do not leave each other's sight, understood?"

"Hooah." The various members of Romeo 2-1 answered before moving to their tasks. Jacob neared the closest corpse, at the base of the wall set against the sea. To his surprise, he noted it was only the top half of a human being. The dead Dahl trooper's body was ripped clean in half. His intestines, now dried and rotting, hung limp from the bottom of the tear.

"Where's his bottom half?" Katylin wondered out loud.

"Dunno." Jacob answered. He tapped his ECHO Communicator. "Den Mother, this is Greenberg. We've got a body here." He reached under the man's shirt, found his dogtags, and ripped them out. "PFC William Frost."

"Roger that, Greenberg. Cause of death?"

"Split apart…" Jacob said darkly. "Though I'm curious as to where his bottom half went."

"Say again, 3?" Lieutenant Hayes' voice faltered.

"Right below the belly button. He's cut in half." Jacob said.

"More like ripped." Katylin added.

"Uh… Roger that, Greenberg. Death confirmed."

Jacob opened the dead soldier's mouth, carefully angled the dogtag, and smashed it with the palm of his hand. The dogtag stuck perfectly between the man's largest two upper teeth. Dogtags of killed Dahl troopers tended to go missing sometimes, and the Dahl soldiers had come up with this as a solution in the field. They called this grim process "tooth tagging".

"Well that's one body bag." Jacob said in a matter-of-fact manner as he straightened up.

"Seriously, where's his bottom half?" Katylin asked. She paused. "Wait… Look at the corpse. Jake. The indents, the dust."

"Good eye." Jacob nodded. "Impact."

The three troopers all looked up at the sea wall as they understood where the bottom half of this soldier undoubtedly was.

"Staircase." Jacob stated, realizing they hadn't even looked at this part of the wall.

"Roger that." Alexander said. "I'm on point."

"Cap, we're heading up on the wall. We'll still be in sight." Katylin transmitted.

"Roger that, Zhang. Stay frosty. Deane says the generators weren't destroyed by gunfire."

"Then by what?" Jacob asked.

"Hell if I know." Brittany transmitted. "I might be able to tell you in a few minutes."

"What do you have there, Ruiz?" Captain Jones said.

"Sleeping quarters are untouched." Adrian radioed. "This is weird."

Alexander slowly made his way up the metal staircase that led to the top level of the outpost, Jacob right behind him with Katylin bringing up the rear. They cleared the staircase, and just as they suspected, found the bottom half of the soldier, along with yet another disturbing sight. A small section of wall on the inside ring was raised higher to support a metal flagpole. The Dahl flag was untouched, but on the section of wall itself, another dead Dahl trooper was pierced into the bricks. A one meter long spike of what looked like chitin had skewered the soldier directly through the solar plexus and tacked him to the brick like a grim wall decoration.

"What in the holy hell…?" Jacob said as he walked up to the corpse. Again, he reached in the shirt and ripped the man's dog tags off. "Den mother, Greenberg… We've got another body. Sergeant Rashad Larmont."

"Roger that, cause of death?" Lieutenant Hayes asked. Jacob kneeled down and inspected the shard of chitin. It was surprisingly smooth. "Greenberg, cause of death?" Hayes repeated.

"I'm struggling to find the words, Den Mother." Jacob answered. "Took a… a… projectile through the solar plexus."

"A projectile? Greenberg, be clear." Lieutenant Hayes said.

"Ma'am, I've stitched my fair share of wounds… I have never seen anything like this before. I'm being as clear as I can be." Jacob answered, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "The projectile… It's… still there."

There was a brief silence on the end of the line. "Okay... Move on."

"Roger that." Jacob said. He straightened up and repeated the tooth tagging process.

"Dominic, Zhang, Greenberg." Captain Jones transmitted to them. "Get down here. We found something."

"Roger that." Alexander said. "Shall we?"

Katylin however, had not responded, standing completely still.

"Kat?" Jacob asked. Katylin locked eyes with Jacob.

"There's someone… or something there. Watching us." Katylin's voice was normal and her body relaxed, though Jacob could see her fingers tense. Though he couldn't see them, he knew her eyes were wide behind her night vision goggles.

"Where?" Jacob asked. "We cleared out all the bandits." He didn't sense anything, but he had come to rely on Katylin's skills.

"Somewhere here." Katylin said. "I can feel it."

Alexander scanned the area. "I can't see a thing. This night vision would pick anything up."

"I'm telling you, something's watching us." Katylin insisted.

"Let's keep walking so as not to show suspicion, eh?" Jacob suggested, leading the trio down the stairs. "You're sure something's watching us?"

"I'm positive… It's just that vibe…" Katylin said as the crew trudged along the dirt and rejoined the rest of their squad. Normally, Jacob would have ignored this strange statement. If it was anyone else, he would've dismissed them. He had known Katylin for many years, however, and had come to rely on her eagle-liked senses. There was a reason she was one of the top snipers in the Rangers.

"Two things." Captain Jones said. "Deane?"

"This tower wasn't cut." Brittany explained. "It was… ripped."

"What?" Katylin asked incredulously.

"I'm serious." Brittany shook her head. "That's the only way. It's not a clean enough break for an acetylene torch. The only round that could penetrate that's a fuckin' Atlas .75 caliber…"

"Those are pretty much impossible to get." Adrian added.

"Even then, it'd take a ton of rounds and the metal'd be shredded." Brittany went on. "Look at the steel here before the break. It's bent..."

"Whoa…" Jacob muttered, examining the break. On both sides of the broken bar, the metal was grayed as if it had been stretched. "What the hell could it have been? Rakk hive?"

"Why the hell'd a Rakk hive be out here?" Brittany frowned.

"Got it." Katylin suddenly said. Everyone looked at her. "You guys see that weapons crate?"

"Yeah." Adrian said, glancing at the massive gunmetal box with the word "DAHL" spraypainted on it.

Katylin gripped her rifle tightly. "Look closely, you'll see something moving." The squad all turned and peered through their goggles at the crate. At first, Jacob saw nothing. But then, a flicker of movement could be seen, and someone or something was undoubtedly breathing. The dust around the crate had been disturbed as well.

"I'll take a look." Alexander muttered. He hefted his massive gun and slowly but methodically began to walk towards the crate. He hadn't taken five steps when whatever it was that was hiding there rocketed upwards into the sky. Jacob caught a glimpse of a tail before the creature disappeared over the wall, flying out in the direction of the ocean.

"The fuck was that?" Adrian turned to his squad mates.

"No idea." Katylin said.

"Den Mother, soft contact." Captain Jones radioed. "We didn't get a look at the contact, but it wasn't human, and it was airborne."

"Roger that, Romeo 3." Hayes answered.

"Friggin' weird shit happening, I'm telling you." Katylin muttered.

"Follow me." Captain Jones commanded. "You've got to see this."

He led his troops towards the command hut in the center of the outpost. As they stepped inside, Jacob was dumbfounded. Blood was smeared on the walls and several corpses lay randomly on the slatted floors.

"Add five more to the body count." Alexander said softly. "Looks like they were having a meeting."

"That's not the worst of it." Captain Jones scoffed. "Take a look at the C.O.'s office."

The squad carefully made their way around the room, trying to avoid stepping on any bodies. The door to the commanding officer's chamber had been ripped from its hinges. The office was a complete mess. The desk was a mess of broken glass and ripped paper. A binder and blood stained note book lay haphazardly near the edge of the desk. Wood splinters lay everywhere, the light flickered, and a bloody pistol lay several feet from the officer himself. The man lay dead against the wall, half of his ribcage torn out. The most terrifying and confusing site, however, was on the wall above him. Written in the officer's own blood were the words "THE WARDEN IS DEAD.".

"What the hell does that mean?" Katylin cocked her head to one side while Jacob walked over to the officer. It seemed like an animal bite. But save for the rare "badass" skags ("badass" being the designation that Dahl troopers gave any enemy that was larger and stronger than normal), there wasn't a living creature on Pandora that could make a massive bite like this. The bodies out in the main room of the command center had similar wounds, and massive slashes to boot.

"Den Mother, Greenberg." Jacob radioed. "Mark down six more dead."

"Go ahead."

"Three officers, three soldiers judging by the uniforms."

"Three…?" Hayes asked. "That's every officer stationed there… Cause of death?"

"Mauling…" Jacob stood up.

To her credit, Hayes didn't question anything this time. It seemed even she was accepting the strangeness. "Roger that. Names of the other three soldiers?"

"PFC Jonathan Sholin, Sergeant Jessica Mantz, Corporal Scott Torpin." Captain Jones rattled off. "Did the tooth tagging." He added to Jacob.

"You're still missing five soldiers, Romeo 3."

"There's no one else here, ma'am, dead or alive. We checked the sleeping quarters as well. Nothing. Just these guys, looks like an animal attack." Captain Jones said.

"Full clear, Romeo 3?"

"Full clear Den Mother… Get us the hell out of here." Captain Jones said. "I don't like this one bit."

"Roger that, bagging teams are on the way."

"That was fast." Jacob commented.

"As I said, they were on standby. They were sent in after the first report." Hayes radioed. "Romeo 3, you have permission for extraction. Bluebird 1-7, take them to Fort Aries."

"Roger that, ma'am." DiTomasso's voice came through, loud and clear. "Romeo 3, I'm landing inside the base. Make it quick, I think I see the cleanup crew's shuttles already."

"Roger that." Captain Jones radioed. He turned to his squad. "Ready to get the hell out of here?"

"Yes sir." The squad chorused. As they all turned around, Jacob quickly glanced at the notebook and binder. He surreptitiously grabbed both and stowed them inside his uniform. The rest of the squad didn't see. Jacob thought, for a fleeting moment, that Katylin might have noticed, but she didn't say a word.

"Let's move, 3. The faster we get out of here, the better." Captain Jones shook his head as he led the squad back outside where DiTomasso's shuttle was hovering.


End file.
